Sunday, January 24, 2016

America's First All-Gay K-12 School: Atlanta

“Pride School Atlanta” is being launched from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta by a middle-aged transgender entrepreneur (currently) named Christian Zsilavetz to provide a $13,000-annual-tuition, non-judgmental education that is “free of homophobia and transphobia” for any student considered “different.” However, the unanswered question is, Who is labeling the children, as young as five, as gay?

“Kids have full permission to be themselves — as well as educators. Where there’s no wondering, ‘Is this teacher going to be a person for me to be myself with?’” Zsilavetz told the AP.

According to the school’s website, the teaching model offers a flexible curriculum with “no mandatory homework or testing.” The open-learning model is designed to encourage students to pursue subjects they are interested in.

The school would be modeled after the Harvey Milk school in New York City and other education centers across the country designed for, but not limited to, LGBT youth.

According to the school’s website “All students will have the freedom, responsibility, and support to create their own individualized curriculum, education, and school climate through trust and democratic decision-making processes. Sometimes students thrive on structure in their day, and at other times freedom. In our model, borrowed from longstanding schools around the world, curriculum is flexible and there is no mandatory homework or testing. Students are free to discover what, when and how they prefer to learn, trusted that their natural curiosity and desire to pursue personal goals will lead them to a rigorous and rich education. Each day will be full of opportunities for each member of the Pride School Family to become the best person they can be, ready to face the world with confidence, knowledge, and the ability to help others do the same.”

It is part of a small but growing group of schools popping up nationally geared toward educating LGBT youth, who feel disenfranchised from public education. Pride School would be the first of its kind in the Southeast and, according to gay rights advocates, a significant development for the LGBT movement.

Zsilavetz, 45, who's taught math and other subjects since 1992, says he never felt truly open or supported by administrators while teaching in public schools and wanted that to change. He wanted LGBT students and teachers to be able to openly discuss who they are in a school setting without fear.

“Pride School Atlanta admits students of any race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, affectional preference, sexual orientation, marital or relationship status, gender identity or gender expression to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school,” the school-to-be says on its website.

Besides being intended for gay and transgender students, the school also hopes to create a welcoming environment for transgender teachers who may encounter hostility in a public school environment.

The school isn’t the first one to put a focus on gay students. New York City actually has a public high school, Harvey Milk High School, that is designed for LGBT students. Pride School, though, will be K-12, and it is the first school of its kind built in the conservative American South.